KIEV • Five people died when a cargo transport plane crashed yesterday while coming in to land in western Ukraine, said the country's emergency services.
The Antonov-12 airplane with eight people on board crash-landed 1.5km from the runway at Lviv airport. The surviving three passengers were hospitalised in a serious condition after being trapped in the wreckage, said the emergency services.
It added that the aircraft was operated by Kiev-based company Ukraine Air Alliance and was flying from Vigo in Spain.
Deputy Infrastructure Minister Yuriy Lavrenyuk told Ukraine's 112 TV channel that it was thought the plane had run out of fuel, or a pilot had made a mistake.
The emergency services posted a picture of the plane with one wing ripped off.
It said in a statement that the four-engine plane vanished from radar at 7.10am local time when it was 13.7km from the airport.
"Burning is not observed," it added. "The crew is being removed from the damaged aircraft."
One of the crew had called the services at 7.29am to report the emergency landing of the plane.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS